


The Heat of the Moment

by wavewright62



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-03 16:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6618553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wavewright62/pseuds/wavewright62
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tuuri gets excited.<br/>Sigrun gets rude with Emil but then he gets her wet.<br/>Is something going on with Tuuri and Reynir?<br/>Lalli and Sigrun hide the carrot when nobody's looking.<br/>A rub-down is a good way to end the day.<br/>Everybody (almost) gets hot and naked.<br/>Fluffity fluff fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tuuri’s heart stood still as she saw it.

She was driving carefully along what the historic map had shown as a boulevard through a residential district. Now it was a narrowed track with large trees forcing roots up under the broken pavement and kerbs on either side. Shrubs were growing in some of the cracks in the road, fertilised by decades of fallen leaves turned to humus. Drifting snow obscured her view of the road in places. They were now only meters away from the location Lalli had scouted as a probable camp site.  
  
They usually avoided former residential areas as a safety precaution, but most of the houses here were burnt-out ruins. Tuuri asked if cleansers had gone through. Mikkel confirmed that the ill-fated military reclamation of 10 years ago had not come near this area, and pointed out that the overgrown greenery around the area meant that these probably burned many years ago. He was explaining something about Denmark’s use of cleansers and something else about home heating systems used in Year 0, but Tuuri was not listening anymore. She had spotted it in the ruins, and her mind was racing with the possibilities.  
  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
They came to the designated spot, an open area on the banks of a river, and Sigrun nudged Reynir, who had been sitting with Mikkel just behind her, drinking in the view. She swept her arm around in a gesture he took to mean, did he see anything? Right, he realised with a thrill, I can see spirits, she wants to know if I can see any ghosts or things. He craned forward to peer through the windscreen, but was almost disappointed that there was nothing to see, and shook his head at her.  
  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
Sigrun leapt up and called back to Emil, “Time to check out the site, Emil! Let’s go!” Emil had been warming his feet by the stove in the sleeping area but managed not to grumble out loud as he rose to obey. He stepped carefully to avoid waking Lalli, but fortunately the latter had tucked himself out of the way under the bunks. Unfortunately he’d also managed to tuck one of Emil’s boots behind him, and Emil winced as despite his best efforts, part of the boot whacked Lalli’s head on its way out from behind him, causing him to stir and mutter. Emil was pretty sure that whatever that Finnish word was, it wasn’t very nice. He *did* know that the word Sigrun just used to describe how slow he was wasn’t very nice at all. His captain back in the cleanser unit used to use the same word.  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
Tuuri knew all of those words (she was raised on a military base, after all), but was too busy marking the map to pay attention. She needed to mark the actual layout and landmarks they’d passed, but she also noted the location of the small brick building nearby that she’d spied earlier. She was making plans, and could barely contain herself, waiting anxiously for evening.  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
Mikkel couldn’t help noticing Tuuri’s excitement. He could see right through her, guileless as she was. He tested her by asking her to slice carrots for dinner while he set up the cooking area, and she was so distracted she did so without so much as a grimace. Normally she would put her already upturned nose a little higher and said she needed to examine one of the books they’d gathered. He knew how it was, he nodded to himself, she had the young stowaway on her mind. He softly hummed the old drinking tune about the milkmaid and the wanderer. _For she was bright in all the right places..._  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
Sigrun leapt from the tank, momentarily revelling in the deep impression her boots made in the snow. No other footprints, just mine, she thought and she suppressed the urge to charge around the camp site making more footprints. Then she frowned. Was the twig missing the forest or something, couldn’t he have found anywhere better? The site was fairly overgrown, making lots of hiding places for Beasts, especially that area between the vehicle and the old houses. Was the snow covering swampy spots? The houses were wrecked, no books there. The river was loud, she wouldn’t be able to hear anything sneak up on them. She was anxious to check it out further to see how deep it was – where was Emil? Why was he so slow? She stuck her head back into the doorway to tell the slowpoke to jolly himself along. Well, not as nice as that, but he was so prissy sometimes. While she waited, Sigrun set to carefully tamping down the snow around the tank, so at least little fluffball could get out without losing herself in a snowdrift. She was getting bigger and had made some good kills, but she still needed to grow a bit to be a passable mission cat. Emil finally showed himself, and she charged off down to the river to check if it was shallow enough to make a good escape route.  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
With nightfall, Lalli was awake and getting ready for scouting. The stew was revolting, the carrots were cut in big chunks and not cooked all the way through, and there was never enough meat in it. He surreptitiously picked out the carrot chunks and placed them into the recycler. Emil was sitting by the heater again. How did he manage to fall in the river? Maybe Sigrun pushed him in to see how deep it was, she was always hitting people. He stood next to Emil, but then Tuuri motioned him up to where she sat to do the driving. They weren’t moving so it should be okay to go up there now. She had the map laid out and he could see where she’d marked it, and the circle around that old sauna back there. Lalli had checked it out fairly thoroughly. The outer door had been ripped off its hinges but the splintering of the door frame was quite weathered, and the inner door separating the dressing area from the sauna room was intact. The sauna room smelled of mould and the water basins had rusted through, but the stove and rocks looked okay. There were birch trees near it, and they’d even made a small pool in the river next to the house for cooling off. There weren’t any trolls around that he could see, or signs of nests. “It’s a good sauna, Tuuri,” he said, pointing at her circle. Why did she look at him like that? Did she think he hadn’t seen it? It was a big factor in why he’d chosen this old park as a campsite. Then the words started spilling out of her and Lalli stepped back to avoid them, so many, he couldn’t hear what she was saying through all those words.  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
The other four crew members looked up at the sudden burst of rapid-fire Finnish. Reynir was concerned and thought she was rather hard on her cousin, even if she didn’t actually look upset. Emil couldn’t see Tuuri, but frowned as he saw Lalli step back in the face of Tuuri’s barrage. Mikkel looked up only momentarily before returning to eating his stew, and nodded to himself that she was on edge as young girls in love tend to be. Sigrun stared for a moment, before starting to walk toward the map to see what they might be arguing about, which gave her a good cover for stuffing her carrot chunks into the recycler, too.  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
Tuuri was actually saying, “It really was a sauna? I thought it might be but wasn’t sure if they had those in Denmark. Why didn’t you tell me this morning? What kind of condition is it in? I haven’t been properly clean since I left Keuruu! What do you mean by ‘good,’ can I use it? Is the stove all right? Does this river go past it? What did it look like inside? Are the benches and everything okay? Does that mean a Finn lived there? Maybe if I go with a mask and a gun, it’ll be okay?”  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
Sigrun inserted herself beside Tuuri and Lalli and demanded to know what was going on. Tuuri bit her lip as Sigrun confronted her, but then steeled her resolve. She kept her voice low as she continued in Swedish, “There’s a sauna right around the corner, and I was asking Lalli,“ she gestured at the suddenly-vacant space where Lalli had been a moment before, “if it was in any kind of usable condition. I just wanted to-”  
Sigrun interrupted her, but also kept her voice low. “Are there books in it?”  
“Not in a sauna, no?”  
“Are there trolls in it?”  
“No?” Tuuri realised she hadn’t asked Lalli that yet. Trolls would often nest in an abandoned sauna back in Finland. Beasts did, too. Then Tuuri recalled the mangled grossling, which might once have been a rat, that the kitten had proudly deposited in the Cattank a few days back. There were still a few dents in the floor where Tuuri had repeatedly bashed the corpse with a socket wrench while screaming into her mask before Reynir hustled her away.  
  
“What makes you think I’m going to let a non-immune go wandering around looking for a bath?”  
  
“I, I-” Tuuri realised Sigrun was right, and she deflated. “I was hoping to get, you know, _clean._ ” She dropped her head and looked down at the map. “Really clean.”  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
_Clean._ Sigrun had to admit that while near-daily decontamination kept her clean enough, sitting with her long legs scrunched in that tub wasn’t very satisfying. She’d taken a spill into that river today (courtesy of Emil accidentally pulling her in flailing around after he’d fallen in), and it would have been refreshing had she not been so cross with him, but that wasn’t a proper bath. She’d never taken a Finnish sauna before. Tor back home said it was hotter than sitting in a campfire, but he was a notorious whinger. She would show him! “Hang on, fuzzyhead. What did he say about it?”  
Tuuri’s face shot up to look at Sigrun. Was Sigrun...smiling? “He- he said it was a good sauna. I was going to ask him to-“ but Sigrun was already walking away.  
“Yes, yes, have him check it out.” Sigrun gave Lalli a clout of approval on his shoulder as she passed him on her way back to her dinner. She didn’t notice the icy glare he gave her in return, or Tuuri’s wide-eyed stare. Sigrun was thinking about Tor’s face when she told him about her awesome vacation.  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
Tuuri recovered herself enough to ask Lalli nicely to come back and tell her what he knew, and asked him to check out a few more points about the functioning of the sauna. When she went to get out the ladder for him to use, he said he didn’t need it and ran into the night.  
÷÷÷÷÷÷  
Tuuri could barely sleep for excitement, and lay in her bunk absent-mindedly stroking the kitten.   
Reynir lay in his bunk, looking at the kitten tucked up with Tuuri and wondering if the kitten could sense his dog fylgia and that was why she didn’t sleep next to him anymore.   
Emil lay in his bunk, reliving the sickening feeling as he lost his footing on the rocks and fell into the cold cold river, and turned toward the wall to take pressure off his bruised hip and knee.   
Sigrun lay in her bunk, fast asleep and dreaming of standing in a campfire and laughing at Tor, who was somehow a troll holding a towel for her.   
Mikkel lay in his bunk, watching Reynir watching Tuuri, with the old song still running through his head.   
_You must be weary from your wand’rings, / would you like to rest your head? / I’m afraid we have no ale, / but I can offer milk instead. You are so kind to offer me / soft pillows like a cloud, / I need no ale when I can drink / the milk straight from the cow._


	2. "You Will Need Towels"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sigrun takes the plunge with Tuuri.  
> Lalli has a message for Reynir.

The next day, Tuuri was buzzing with excitement. She couldn’t believe Sigrun was on board with the idea of seeing if they could get the old sauna working! Lalli had come in from the night’s scouting with a more complete report, and Tuuri had some idea what she needed to do. It wasn’t the kind that needed electricity, it was an honest one heated by a stout wood stove. The plumbing naturally was not working. Lalli had pushed a stick down through the chimney to clear old bird and spider nests, and verify that it wasn’t a troll nest. Tuuri tried to ask him how he got up onto the roof without the ladder, but he just shrugged.

Sigrun would not allow them to have sauna at night, and would prefer to move on from this site tomorrow. Lalli had seen some buildings further along that were more promising for their hunt for books, and that was far more important than a bath. It was today or never.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Emil ate his breakfast a bit glumly. Lalli had pointed at his hair and said something in Finnish, and while Tuuri snorted, she didn’t translate. Lalli took nothing for breakfast before heading to the back to get ready to sleep. Emil saw with annoyance that someone (he suspected Mikkel) had taken his boots away from the heater where they were drying, and shoved them under the bunk again, so grabbed a piece of the flatbread Mikkel made and followed Lalli to retrieve them. He got in front of Lalli and handed him the bread, then pointed at his own hair and made an exaggerated shrug and quizzical face to ask what Lalli had meant. Lalli stared a moment, then tidied his own hair in imitation of Emil before peering at the bread and saying something in Finnish again. Emil was crestfallen that even Lalli was now making fun of him, and rather stiffly got the boots out from beneath the bunk. He didn’t meet Lalli’s eyes following him as he silently munched the bread.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Lalli thought the bread was very nice after all, he hadn’t realised it was fresh, and was thankful Emil had brought it to him. He had wrestled with so many dusty spider webs last night in the sauna that his hood had gotten pushed back and his hair had looked yellow like Emil’s. He’d had a terrible time trying to get it all out during decontamination, and was looking forward to having a sauna tonight instead of going out scouting. Maybe Emil didn’t like sauna. Maybe Tuuri could tell him how to say Thank You in Swedish.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Tuuri gathered the tools and overalls she’d been issued as the team’s mechanic. She hadn’t needed to make repairs on the Cattank yet this trip. Every time something went wrong, Mikkel would protest that she didn’t have to do it and would fix it himself. It was annoying sometimes, but she was also grateful that the Cattank hadn’t needed any serious work done to it, not even after sliding down that truck and landing nose-first in a river. She would have been even more scared if she’d known then what could be found _in_ those rivers. She hesitated. Sigrun and Emil said that the river here was shallow, but maybe she’d have to just sit in the snow a moment for a break instead of sitting in the river.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Sigrun woke up in high spirits. The early sunlight sending bluish reflections from the snow into the Cattank excited her just as much as it did when she was a child. Then actually getting out into the snow was sheer pleasure. Winter was usually the most boring time in Dalsnes, because there was no hunting and most of her teammates were resting and recuperating. She’d come to associate snowy days with active play, especially her favourite winter pastime of toboganning down the steep road above Dalsnes. It was so flat here, but maybe this sauna idea would be fun, she thought as she strode across the snow. She was brought to earth again upon seeing the splintered doorjamb of the building. Even though it didn’t look like fresh damage, she could tell that the door had not fallen over from neglect. A quick look around confirmed that the door was lying over by the ruins of the main house. Aaaaaand there was the little skald finally catching up.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

After trudging through the snow with all her tools, Tuuri wondered whether she was already hot enough without the sauna. Her skald’s job did not leave her very fit, and her short legs were just not up to the task of keeping up with Sigrun’s long strides. But once she rounded the line of trees separating the park from the houses and saw the sauna, her grumbles evaporated. She walked into the dressing room, which was small enough to be fully lit inside from the reflection off the snow coming in through the open doorway, where Sigrun was running her hand over the door jamb appraisingly.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Tuuri saw a sign on the wall above the bench, that looked very much like the joking Rules of the Sauna placards some saunas had back home. While the writing resembled Finnish, it wasn’t that or any of the other languages she could read. So, not a Finn, she thought, maybe an Estonian? She set down her tools next to the stove. There was no wood outside and while there had once been a small woodpile inside between the doorway and the door to the stove, but all that was left now was a pile of scattered dirt and splinters. Lalli hadn’t mentioned a woodpile, so she wasn’t surprised.   
Good thing she’d come up with an alternate plan, she smiled to herself.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Reynir was at loose ends. Mikkel was at the desk reading that book again, the one with the scary pictures tucked into it; Reynir hated how if he tried to ask Mikkel anything while he was reading that book, Mikkel would show him those pictures of the poor lady with the Rash. It also irritated him that Mikkel was humming that horrible tune, the one about the Dagrenning program. His older brothers used to sing it when they wanted to taunt Reynir, at least in the days before they left home and taunted him with their absence.   
_We all know Immune is better / Why should you just leave it to chance? / Iceland needs you for Dagrenning / Dagrenning, Dagrenning, your family's best._   
It was a dumb song, but so bleedingly catchy. To add insult to injury, sometimes he caught his mother humming it, too.

He looked at Lalli asleep under the bunk, and it occurred to him to try going to the dream realm again while he was awake. He had done it once by accident when the evil spirits had attacked them all, but had been unsuccessful in attempts since. He just couldn’t concentrate or something. He got onto this knees and clasped his hands together (maybe that had something to do with it?) and looked at Lalli, thinking about how he really wanted to talk to him in that beautiful place in the dreamworld. He wanted to ask him... what? What should he ask? From the desk, Mikkel called that he wanted to show Reynir something, and Reynir panicked. He really wanted to go to that beautiful place _right now_ and get away fron the Rash lady. And he was there? Or rather, he was in Iceland again, but he could see Lalli’s haven right over there, and Lalli sitting in it. His fylgia was there looking alert but relaxed; he gave the fylgia a rub behind the ears as he hurried over, but Lalli stood up as he approached, held out his hand as though to ward Reynir off. Reynir stopped just outside the haven, and before he could say anything Lalli said to him, “You will need towels.”

Just as suddenly, Reynir was back in the Cattank, with Mikkel clasping his shoulder for balance as he walked past. And Reynir saw sitting on the bunk just above Lalli, the stack of clean towels Mikkel had folded that morning. The kitten was doing her ablutions on top of the stack, and Mikkel shooed her off of them. Reynir stared at the towels, puzzling over Lalli’s message, for he was sure it was intended as a message, mage to mage. Magecraft was a messy business? Blood would be spilled? Maybe, he needed to.... absorb... something? He sighed in frustration. At least he’d made the waking transition work, if he could just figure out how, exactly.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Sigrun occupied herself while Tuuri worked by checking out the area around the sauna. She remembered hearing something about Finns rolling naked in snowbanks after sauna, and thought that sounded interesting, not too different from taking ice swims. The snow wasn’t all that deep here, though, and there were mostly overgrown bushes sticking up out of it, not very pleasant to roll on. She popped her head inside and asked Tuuri about the snowbanks, and she replied that Lalli said there was a pool made in the river. Sigrun had been dunked yesterday, she knew it wasn’t deep either, but trudged down to the river to check it out. Sure enough, there were Lalli’s small footprints leading there as well and she saw the pool the prior residents had created in the river by digging out some of the river rocks and piling them up in a rough ring. Even after all this time, it was still more or less in place.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Eventually Tuuri emerged from the building, dusty but smiling. She asked Sigrun if she had her knife handy, and walked over to the birch trees nearby. To Sigrun’s puzzlement, Tuuri used the knife to cut several small twigs off the trees before disappearing back into the sauna with them. She emerged again with a bucket, from which she dumped a bunch of ashes onto the snow, before heading down to the river. Sigrun followed.

After several of those runs to the river filling the bucket, Tuuri came into the dressing area and shucked off her boots and mechanic’s overalls, announcing that the sauna was more or less warmed up now and they could go in. As she continued to peel off clothing and her mask, Sigrun became more alarmed. “Don’t we need to wear towels? We didn’t bring any towels!”  
“Ah, no, we didn’t,” Tuuri hesitated, but then shrugged. “But, you don’t use them in sauna anyway. You take sauna naked.”

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Sigrun was nonplussed. What happened to the person who took her showers furtively, taking all of her clothes into the cubicle with her? Sigrun was used to military life, where modesty took a back seat to looking after your team’s safety. She’d also seen Emil, Forest-boy and Mr Mutiny naked in decontamination, and even the troll-bait with the braid when he needed decontamination after getting rid of a rat-beast carcass in the Cattank earlier this week. But there was shy plump little fuzzyhead, disappearing into the sauna butt-naked. As Sigrun shucked off her clothes, she looked at her knife belt. Naked and shivering was one thing, but _naked_ was something else. She carried the whole belt in her hand.

Sigrun staggered as she walked in. Though it was snow bright outside, the sauna was very dimly lit through a small window high up on the wall, mostly crusted over. The room smelled mouldy, like most of the old buildings they were exploring, but what jolted her was the incredible heat, like nothing she’d ever felt. Old Tor was right, it _was_ like sitting in a campfire. As her eyes adjusted, Sigrun noticed there were three shelves, with the bucket filled with water on the middle shelf, next to the rocks. Rocks! There was a pile of rocks in the corner, and they were putting out the heat. She could feel herself starting to sweat. Sitting on the top shelf, there was the little skald, smiling.

“It’s not very hot, only about 40 degrees, maybe 45. But it’s a sauna! It’s hottest on the top shelf, come up here. Wait,” Tuuri noticed the knife belt in Sigrun’s hand, “m-maybe leave that on the floor, that’s the coolest spot. The metal will get too hot to touch.” She’d forgotten all about security in her zeal to get the sauna going. Should she be wearing her mask? But the day was very bright and sunny, and Lalli had said there was no sign of recent troll activity.

Sigrun had to sit on the top shelf to save face, although she would have preferred sitting on the cooler shelves. Tuuri was chattering away which was helping Sigrun endure the intense heat, but occasionally she would pause and scoop a few handfuls on water onto the rocks, making them steam. Whenever she did that Sigrun could feel an even more intense wave of heat come on top of her head and down her face and shoulders. She was a Viking, she could handle this. Daughter of generals.  
Absolutely.  
She would not need a burning longboat to send her to Valhalla, she was already burning.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Tuuri relaxed as she was reminded of a story she’d heard as a little girl. Before she’d moved to Keuruu with Onni and Lalli, her family sometimes went to Niinisaari to get honey from an old lady that lived there, who would give Tuuri and Lalli a bit of honey on bread and tell Tuuri stories while Lalli wandered off to look at the bees. She started telling Sigrun her favourite one, about the old woman’s auntie who’d gone wandering in the first years post-Rash, living in abandoned houses. She came upon an abandoned sauna like this one, but it still had wood and everything piled up, so she made herself a sauna. A troll attacked her while she was in there, but she was able to barricade it in the sauna. She rushed to stoke up the stove as hot as it could go and left the troll in there while she carried on stoking the fire. After about an hour, it had gone very quiet and she cautiously peeked in the sauna. The troll shoved the door open in her face, bolted for the nearby stream and hurled itself in, but when it stopped steaming the troll stood up, thanked the auntie very much for the lovely sauna, and walked calmly back into the woods.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Sigrun was convinced she was being roasted alive, even after splashing some of the cold water onto her burning red face. How was Tuuri standing it? Finns are certainly weird, they do this for fun, she thought to herself. When Tuuri got to the part about the troll hurling itself into the stream, Sigrun suddenly remembered the river outside, and the pool that had been built into it. She could stand it no longer; she followed the lead of the troll in the story and yanked the door open and ran across the snow to the pool. Nimbly she stepped into the river and picked her way on the rocks to the deepest part of the pool and sighed with bliss as she lowered her body into the icy river. She watched with wonder at the steam rising from her arms into the cold air, and when she raised her eyes, there was the smiling fuzzyhead carefully picking her way across the rocks, steam surrounding her body like a corona.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can't stand the heat, get out of the ...kitchen?


	3. Heat Rises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikkel's ears BURN.

Reynir stared at the towels, but they weren’t giving him any enlightenment about Lalli's cryptic message. "You will need towels."  
The kitten had taken up her ablutions on top of them again as soon as Mikkel had turned his back. Emil was glumly sitting next to them on the bunk, cleaning some of his equipment. It wouldn’t do any good to ask _him_ what his vision might have meant, Emil couldn’t speak Icelandic and Reynir couldn’t speak Swedish. Reynir stood up and picked up the stack of towels while apologising to the kitten for disturbing her. Tuuri was Lalli’s relative, she would be the best bet to ask. But then he remembered that she had gone with Sigrun this morning, giggling about something about getting some parts for the tank. He opened the door and saw the sets of footprints in the snow, leading to a stand of trees and the ruins beyond them. Reynir spared a quick glance back at Mikkel, who was still engrossed in his reading, then grabbed a mask and hurried out.

Part way across the paddock, Reynir was already berating himself for his stupidity in leaving the safety of the tank alone, armed with nothing but a stack of towels. He was thankful for the bright cold day. Then he remembered, Tuuri was with Sigrun, who would not be pleased to see him; he was thankful he didn’t know Norwegian because he was sure a lot of what she said about him wasn’t very nice. Why did the gods make him so stupid, even if he was an awesome mage? He rounded the stand of trees and saw the little cottage where the footprints led.

He hurried toward it, but then heard something like splashing. To his amazement, he saw Tuuri and Sigrun naked in the river, their bodies steaming.  
A hot spring! Here! Reynir used to _love_ going to the hot spring near his farm, most of the people from the village would bathe in it. It could get quite social. He was suddenly filled with longing to soak in it as well.  
He hurried down the track to the river, but Tuuri squealed and skooshed further into the water when she saw him. Sigrun was all red in the face and saying something, probably telling him he was stupid or something. He asked Tuuri if he could come in too please, but she just stared at him, then she looked at Sigrun. Sigrun was waving him to come in? He didn’t wait to be asked twice. He stripped off, shivering in the cold air, and then waded in to the stream. Oh, it was a bit cold around the bank, he thought when he first put his feet in, but then lost his footing and fell in face first.

COLDCOLDCOLDCOLD!! He yelled and thrashed around, trying desperately to regain his footing and get out of there. He didn’t hear Sigrun laughing, and he didn’t notice that Tuuri had gotten out of the river and hurried back up to the cottage. Sigrun clasped a hand on his shoulder then helped him up, motioning him frantically to keep quiet. She was saying something that sounded friendly, even, and calmly took a towel and draped it across her shoulders before picking up the rest of the stack where Reynir had left them. She pointed him up the slope to the cottage; he gathered his clothing shamefacedly and followed her as quickly as he could, barefoot in the snow.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Inside the cottage, Sigrun put the towels onto the bench where their clothes were, but then proceeded through the next door still naked. Reynir heard her speak with Tuuri a moment, and he laid his clothes out to get himself dried off and dressed. He was convinced he would never be warm again. Then Tuuri’s voice emerged from the other side of the door, saying in Icelandic, “y-you can come into the sauna if you want to warm up.”

This was a sauna? Reynir’s sister had been in a sauna during her travels and described it as almost as nice as the hot spring. Hot is good, he shivered and went through. In the gloom he saw Sigrun motion him to a spot on the top bench beside Tuuri while she sat on a lower one. Yes, hot is very good, he thought. He relaxed as he warmed up and chatted with Tuuri about sauna and its rituals.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Mikkel realised the day was getting on and he should start preparing the crew’s dinner. He was still thinking about the notes he’d been reading, which didn’t mention anything about any vaccine, but they were describing some of the medic’s observations of the transition process from Rashed to troll. Mikkel had seen the process himself, at least the beginning stage, before they put the person out of their misery. He then realised he had opened the stove cabinet three times in his distraction. Where was the stove? He looked around, asked Emil if he’d seen it (no need to be rude, boy, if you don’t know just say so), then hunted more thoroughly, while retracing his steps mentally. He was quite certain he’d put it away as he always did.

When he went to ask Reynir if he’d seen it, he couldn’t find him. When asked, Emil shrugged and said the last he’d seen him was putting away the towels. There were no towels in the cupboard.  
Aha, Mikkel thought, _that_ was why Tuuri had giggled when she said she was going to get some parts. She meant to have a tryst with young Reynir! Well, she was in for a rude surprise, because he needed that stove. He spied the multiple sets of footprints leading away from the tank, and set out across the paddock, chuckling to himself while imagining their terror at being discovered.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Peering in to the front room of the sauna, Mikkel could see Reynir’s blue peysa and Tuuri’s mechanic’s overalls and the other uniform parts strewn about, and could hear talking in Icelandic coming from the inner room. Yes, he found them all right. He raised his hand to knock on the door but stopped suddenly, transfixed by the sound of Tuuri’s voice and Reynir’s answer.

“Ooohhh, it is sooo good. I really needed this. Mmmmm.”  
“It’s not good unless you really get sweaty. You get rid of aaaaalllll your tension.”  
“I can see you’re warming up now. Isn’t this better?”  
“Much, thank you. This _is_ good, almost as good as I get with my family.” Mikkel brought his hand away from the door with a grimace.  
“Here, let me show you these. We use them in Finland to really bring on a sweat.”  
“Wh-what are you doing?”  
“You lightly whip yourself or each other with them. It stimulates you and makes you tingle all over. Like this.”  
“Hey, ooo careful, that tickles! No stop, let me do it.” A soft slapping sound could be heard, and Mikkel felt a light sweat break out on his upper lip. He should not be listening to this.  
"And look! I brought some of the slippery tube stuff, let me squeeze you some." Mikkel heard Reynir and Tuuri both giggle at the squelching noise it made.

Then he heard Sigrun say in Norwegian, “I want some of that too!” Mikkel never heard the answer as he took off running back to the tank.

“Tuuri, how do you know the Icelandic word for ‘slippery’ but not the word for ‘soap’?” Reynir laughed.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Emil had finished cleaning and restocking his cleanser equipment, and his gun, and even gave his boots a bit of a clean. It was eerie having the tank to himself save for the kitten and Lalli, both of whom were fast asleep. In the quiet all he could hear was that dreadful tune Mikkel had been humming and which was now firmly stuck in Emil’s head, about the cleanser forced to torch the town where his family had once lived. It was rather maudlin, and his cousin Pår liked to mock it as a way to dig at Emil for taking up such a “lowly” profession.  
_For Lo the flames rose ever higher / as the tears fell from his eyes / His history lost forever to fire / His sobbing drowning out trolls’ cries._  
It didn’t help that Emil had felt much like that at his first cleansing, at least for the little while it took for the fire to take hold, and then he had been captivated by the beautiful flames. The latter happy thought was interrupted by Mikkel bursting wild-eyed and breathing heavily into the door of the Cattank.

The two looked at each other in some shock for a long moment. The kitten jumped off the bunk and stretched herself extravagantly to break the spell. Emil asked if there was a troll or beast, but Mikkel grunted noncommitally, so Emil was left to surmise that he didn’t need to use the freshly cleaned gun. Mikkel managed a gruff “excuse me” before turning to the cupboards where the provisions were stored and busying himself there.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

The trio arrived back at the Cattank as twilight began, glowing and laughing, with towels draped around their necks to keep them from catching a chill. Tuuri put away her tools and gave Mikkel back his cookstove with an apology in Swedish, and explained what she had done with it. Despite his stone-faced stare, she offered to set it up again if he would like a sauna, too. He simply said, “No,” and took the stove rather firmly from Tuuri’s hands before turning his back. Sigrun rolled her eyes and shrugged silently, then held up her hand to silence Reynir, who was wringing his hands and gearing up to apologise to Mikkel. Red-faced, he took the towels from Tuuri and hurried away to hang up the wet ones.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Emil was standing in the doorway to the sleeping area, listening to this exchange with some dismay. They had a sauna in Mora, at the museum to that painter Alexander Somebody from the pre-Rash days. Emil liked the trips he’d had to take to the museum as part of his schooling, not from a love of art, but because whatshisname Zorro liked to paint nude girls, including nude girls in sauna. They’d set up a sauna open to the public on the museum grounds, and Emil liked to go to the mixed-sex sessions, with the other people who were too enlightened to worry about modesty. He wasn’t sure he wanted to necessarily see his _teammates_ naked, but a sauna would have been nice, and somehow Reynir had gotten to go when he hadn’t.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Lalli appeared groggily behind Emil, and tapped him on the shoulder. Emil stood aside to let him pass, but Lalli just shook his head and said simply, “Sauna.” Then he handed Emil his cleanser belt. Emil took it from him questioningly, then smiled as the realisation hit him.  
  
“Sauna,” he replied.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Tuuri handed Emil the soap tube as he passed her. Reynir reappeared with two towels and handed them to Lalli, saying in Icelandic, “You will need towels.” Lalli accepted them with an incline of his head.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Tuuri took pains to say nice things about the abysmal dinner but Mikkel was more taciturn than usual. Sigrun finally chided him with, “For the love of the gods, Mister Top Chef, did you put that rat-beast from last week in here?” He relaxed slightly. “You should have been in there with us, Mikkel. It was glorious. A team needs to sweat together, am I right? Plus now we’re all clean without you needing to hose us off. Win-win.”

Mikkel raised his eyebrows in reply but said nothing more. He was apparently wrong about little miss skald and young master kitchen boy.

÷÷÷÷÷÷

Tuuri kept her eyes on her plate, chasing the bits of undefined stuff around the dish. She felt marvelous, clean and relaxed for the first time in weeks. She so needed this sauna. Well, maybe not exactly relaxed, she admitted to herself as she briefly flicked her eyes up to look at Reynir, whose unruly red hair was curling up around his face as it dried. She quickly flicked her eyes back down. She was definitely seeing him in a different light after this afternoon’s escapade. What was that old song Mikkel had been humming? Yes, that one her grandmother used to sing about the flowers and the bees. In later years she knew why her grandmother would laugh and her mother would frown when child Tuuri would sing it.  
_I wave in the wind, come here to me / Drink my nectar at your leisure / Yes, I will come there and drink deep / And make honey from our pleasure._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whipping sequence is a reference to the birch switches Finns and Estonians use in sauna, to increase circulation and get a better sweat. No, really, they do, and they smell nice, too.
> 
> The name escaping Emil is Anders Zorn (1860-1920), the reknowned painter and sculptor from Mora.  
> (Trivia: The author's grandmother happened to be a student of his in his later years. She denied that she had ever posed as one of the nude country girls, until she was very old indeed. Then she admitted to the author's mother that all the students had posed for him and each other as study models, but nothing untoward ever happened.)

**Author's Note:**

> Mikkel, you're a worry, you are.
> 
> Some old tunes get recycled with new lyrics from time to time and place to place. I pay tribute to this splendid folk tradition. 
> 
> Taking a sauna in a public pool while wearing swim togs is just wrong, just sayin', but it's better than no sauna at all. I've never had the nerve to take birch switches in there with me.


End file.
